Governor approves gaming compact
Published 1:44 pm Thursday, October 2, 2008
SNOQUALMIE – Gov. Gary Locke has signed a gaming compact between the state of Washington and the Snoqualmie Tribe, more than a year after the Tribe began negotiations to obtain it.
Locke signed the compact on Monday, Feb. 11. It was then sent to the Washington State Gambling Commission, which forwarded it to the Snoqualmie Tribe. Chairman Joseph Mullen added his signature Friday, Feb. 15.
The Tribe first requested the Class III gaming compact, which would allow it to run Las Vegas-style games inside its proposed casino, on Jan. 23, 2001. The compact must still be approved by Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton and published in the Federal Register.
Nedra Darling, a spokeswoman for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) office in Washington, D.C., said once the agency had received the compact, Norton would have a 45-day period to sign it. The BIA is part of the Department of Interior.
“It’s a nice step forward for us,” said Snoqualmie Tribe Councilman Ray Mullen of Locke’s ratification.
Over the past year, the Tribe has been involved in a two-prong effort to build a proposed casino along Southeast North Bend Way near Interstate 90’s Exit 27. One prong has been the approval of the gaming compact. The other is for the BIA to place in trust 56 acres the Tribe wants to buy from Snoqualmie Hills Joint Venture, which would create a reservation.
The Snoqualmie Tribe becomes the 25th federally recognized Native American tribe to negotiate a gaming compact with the state. Its gaming compact mirrors other compacts, because activities that have been approved for one tribe must be approved for all tribes.
“We didn’t want to reinvent the wheel,” Councilman Mullen said of the compact.
Last week, there was confusion over whether the governor had actually signed the compact. Only a few days before Locke approved it, his communications office had said no date had been set for ratifying the document.
As late as Thursday, Feb. 14 – three days after the governor had approved the compact – the communications office maintained he had not signed it, and some tribal members weren’t aware of what was occurring. Councilman Mullen was informed that the governor had signed the compact by a reporter while he was attending a Tulalip Tribe function last week.
There has been progress with the Tribe’s land-to-trust application as well. Councilman Mullen said the Snoqualmie Tribe had finished its environmental assessment of the 56 acres in the city of Snoqualmie’s urban growth area and had sent it to the BIA Puget Sound Agency office in Everett for review.
“We covered everything that we could possibly think of,” Councilman Mullen said. The environmental assessment includes studies on traffic, land use and archaeology, among others. He added the assessment didn’t uncover any surprises.
“It was pretty much what we figured, and that’s why we like the land there,” he said.
Councilman Mullen also said it was important that the assessment be thorough because the Tribe and the companies it is working with to develop the casino, MGU LLC and MGU Development LLC, both of Phoenix, have a lot riding on the outcome.
“We’re doing it to the best of our abilities to begin with,” he said.
After the BIA Puget Sound Agency office reviews the environmental assessment, it will be made available for public comment. Following that, the land-to-trust application will be sent to Norton.
